We have all experienced times in our lives where we become sick and need to seek medical attention, right? Well, I am the type of person that tries to come up with every possible solution to not see the doctor. “It’s not that bad,” “I will survive,” “other people are dealing with way worse.” Well, that is until I WebMD my symptoms and I find out that I am dying, I have 3 out of 20 symptoms listed and I am sure I have the crazy rare disease that 1 in a million individuals have. Now, it isn’t until I am at the doctor’s office where my thoughts begin to ease, the doctor normalizes my symptoms, and I begin to feel less anxious. The doctors support, validation, and normalization is key to helping me feel better and feeling like I will survive. Then, at the end of the appointment, I am told I have a sinus infection, and life will go on.
Because of my experience speaking with individuals after a critical incident, I have begun to understand that my experience above is similar to the feelings and reactions employees might experience after a workplace incident. I often hear “why do I feel this way,” “is this normal?” and “when will I start to feel better?” These are all valid questions and concerns, and it is helpful to normalize with a professional.
This is where TeleReach can be beneficial. TeleReach is a telephonic service that is designed to provide support to employees after a workplace incident. Our clinicians utilize a strengths-based approach to build rapport with employees, while providing psychoeducation on common reactions, and identify coping skills that can be utilized to reduce the reactions being experienced.
TeleReach is a voluntary service, and we want employees to feel free to utilize the support when they need it. Typically, TeleReach consists of three separate outbound support calls to employees after an incident occurs. After our initial call with the employee, we will reach out for a 3-5-day call, and finally, a 10-day follow-up call. On every call, we will check-in with the employee, discuss how they are feeling, and ask them to identify their current stress level. We will also provide psychoeducation to help them express and understand how they’re feeling. We work to provide support through validation, normalization, and rediscovering past copings skills as well as identifying new ones. Over the course of the ten days, we want to ensure the employee’s stress level is decreasing and their reactions being experienced are also being reduced. Additionally, all employees are provided with a 24-hour phone number where they can speak with a licensed clinician at any time.
Throughout my work as a clinician with R3Continuum, I have first-hand experience speaking with employees who have experienced a disruptive event, and I am able to see their reactions decrease throughout the 10-day period. The calls not only provide support, validation, and normalization to the employees, but they also tap into the employee’s existing strengths and focus on that to guide their recovery.
About the Author: Calli Carpenter earned her bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University where she completed a major in Social Work with a minor in psychology. Calli continued on to earn her master’s degree through Western Michigan University’s advanced standing social work program. Throughout this program, Calli focused her studies on trauma while completing an internship conducting intensive home-based therapy with children and adolescents. Prior to working for R3, Calli worked as an after school coordinator for a local non-profit organization. Through this, Calli worked to provide a complex, academic focused program to underprivileged students within a local community. Calli works as a Telephonic Clinician in the Productivity Assurance Call Center where she provides support and case management to individuals involved in work place incidents.
